Standard Lemma guide

seriousness

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈsɪɹiəsnəs/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɪəɹiəsnəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S IH1 R IY0 AH0 S N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state or quality of being serious.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: earnestness, seriosity, sobriety

Antonyms: jocularity, levity, unseriousness

2

noun

Meaning 2

the trait of being serious- Robert Rice

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a lack of solemnity is not necessarily a lack of seriousness

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: earnestness, serious-mindedness, sincerity

Antonyms: frivolity

Broader terms: trait

Narrower terms: committedness, commitment, graveness, gravity, sobriety, soberness, somberness, sombreness, sedateness, staidness, solemnity, solemness

3

noun

Meaning 3

the quality of arousing fear or distress

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he learned the seriousness of his illness

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: distressfulness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: badness, severity, severeness

4

noun

Meaning 4

an earnest and sincere feeling

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: earnestness, sincerity

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: gravity, solemnity

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *seh1- Proto-Indo-European *-rós Proto-Italic *sēros Latin sērus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius ? Proto-Indo-European *swer- Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *swerjos? Latin sērius Proto-Indo-European *h3ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h3édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Medieval Latin sēriōsus Old French serieuxbor. Middle English seryows English serious Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English seriousness From serious + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: ernstig — state of being serious
  • Arabic: جِدِّيَّة (jiddiyya) — state of being serious
  • Armenian: լրջություն (lrǰutʻyun) — state of being serious
  • Bulgarian: сериозност (serioznost) — state of being serious
  • Bulgarian: важност (važnost) — state of being serious
  • Catalan: serietat — state of being serious
  • Catalan: gravetat — state of being serious
  • Czech: vážnost — state of being serious
  • Danish: alvor — state of being serious
  • Dutch: ernst — state of being serious
  • Esperanto: seriozeco — state of being serious
  • Finnish: vakavuus — state of being serious
  • French: sériosité — state of being serious
  • French: gravité — state of being serious
  • Galician: seriedade — state of being serious
  • German: Ernsthaftigkeit — state of being serious
  • Greek: σοβαρότητα (sovarótita) — state of being serious
  • Italian: serietà — state of being serious
  • Italian: gravità — state of being serious
  • Middle English: sadnesse — state of being serious
  • Norwegian Bokmål: alvor — state of being serious
  • Norwegian Bokmål: alvorlighet — state of being serious
  • Norwegian Bokmål: seriøsitet — state of being serious
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: alvor — state of being serious
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: seriøsitet — state of being serious
  • Polish: powaga — state of being serious
  • Portuguese: seriedade — state of being serious
  • Portuguese: gravidade — state of being serious
  • Romanian: seriozitate — state of being serious
  • Russian: серьёзность (serʹjóznostʹ) — state of being serious
  • Serbo-Croatian: ozbíljnōst — state of being serious
  • Spanish: seriedad — state of being serious
  • Turkish: ciddiyet — state of being serious